A Day Off from a Motorcycle Vacation

AT THE TRAIL HEAD

Anybody who has done a road trip knows that it is nearly impossible to pack enough apparel to wear something clean every day without stopping to do laundry. My indicator is pretty much when I am running out of clean underwear. I don't mind wearing jeans a couple of days and I always over pack t-shirts and tank tops, but the underwear is where I draw the line as far as double duty. Besides being out of clean skivvies by the 3rd, my bike was filthy and I wanted to check it out for leaks and anything lose and the best way to do that is a good wash and dry. Fortunately, the little town of Jasper has a laundromat situated right up the hill from a car wash, so I put my clothes in the washing machine and rode down the hill and washed the scoot, then rode back up and threw everything in the drier and spent some time checking out the bike for possible leaks or other issues.

HOW DID THEY GET THIS CONCRETE THERE?

A LITTLE POND IS ALL I FOUND

Good news was nothing to report as far as mechanical distress, the clothes and bike were cleaned. I ran back to the cabin, dropped everything off, threw on my hiking boots and stopped by the Elk Center in Jasper for some info on motorcycle friendly access to hiking trails in the area. I wanted to take a walk in the Arkansas woods that Buffalo and I love so much and spend some me thinking about things. The gal was very helpful and sent me on a nice ride to south of Ponca to a hiking trail called Lost Valley. Although the access wasn't all paved, it was well packed gravel and had plenty of room to turn the scoot around in a large, level parking area that was near empty. My Saddleman tour bag has a really nifty little feature of a zip off little back pack on one end, so I took advantage of that feature before I headed out. I also stopped at the mini mart and picked up a couple of bottles of water and some munchies to take with me. So I grabbed my little pack and headed down the trail. It was very easy going to start, then became slightly more challenging the further it went into the woods. Unfortunately, this is the dry season, so the creek bed and small water fall cascades were literally stone dry, but it was still beautiful.The trail lead to a "natural" bridge that was pretty slimy and so I didn't walk it, then up to a "water fall" that was mostly a trickle and, finally, to a cave. A family of five was ahead of me on the path and they ventured back into the cave. I had a flashlight with me, but wasn't feeling that adventurous for my first hike into the woods. Later, I heard the entire family was missing...  Just kidding!!! LOL

It was about 2.5 miles round trip and was great. As I was heading back towards the trail head, I passed several other families and thought, you know, this is how people's kids should be spending their time, out hiking in the woods with the family instead of parked in front of a computer or TV playing games. Just a thought.

From there, I rode into Ponca and visited with a father a son who had stopped at the Buffalo Valley Center for gas on their motorcycles. They work third shift for Tyson Foods, who is a huge employer in Arkansas, as well as Wal-Mart and JB Hunt Freight (trucking). They do not live in the mountains, although they wish they did. They confirmed what I suspected, which is that the only jobs in the mountains are either owning your own business or minimum wage jobs.  It was the same way when we lived in Nederland, Colorado, in the mountains above Boulder.

So after visiting with the guys, I rode back over to Jasper and just had a real hankering for a beer. Jasper is located in a dry county, and I knew this when I booked there. After all, that's why I brought my own whiskey. But I just felt like a beer and since I couldn't go to an establishment to have one, I ran up route 7, across county line to the first beverage spot, picked up a sixer and ran back down to the cabin. I settled in on the deck and drank beer and read the rest of the afternoon. It was sort of a day off from a motorcycle vacation... sort of...

Peace.

Bobbi